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Photography

Still Evaluating Shooting RAW Photography vs. JPG?

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My journey of taking all my photographs in JPG format is over. After experimenting with photo editing between the two formats I will always shoot my RAW photography format  (RAW +jpeg setting) photos. I have much more creativity range once I get to the editing or photo processing phase.

One thing I love about Spring in Nebraska is the blooming of spring flowers. I sometimes get so excited about the sun and colors I forget to meter my camera to the new lighting caused by the bright sun. I’m either over exposing or under exposing.

So  how do we fix what could be a wonderful picture.  If you have a RAW option in your camera you can easily adjust the exposure without causing image degradation or artifacts. If not using Photoshop and adjusting the levels might be your only option. But be warned it doesn’t work on all photos as you can see below.

Did you know that every time you open a jpg file you lose a little bit of digital information in the image? After a few times you don’t notice a difference, but work and rework that file and pixel by pixel it loses detail. (I’m learning just a little bit more and more)

Think of a RAW file as an undeveloped photo, much like film. In a RAW photo editing program you can adjust the exposure, without destroying pixels or the detail.

How to Fix an Underexposed Photo in RAW photography
I know, it’s not sharp either, darned Nebraska wind.

Below is an example of how messy adjusting jpg files can become. In most pictures there is enough texture to “hide” the destruction, but in this night sky the gradient colors quickly become degraded. “Banding” occurs in the color gradients detracting from the night image. With RAW photography files the gradients are smooth.

Over processing destroys jpg images, shoot in RAW when you can

Ideally I would get the right exposure the first time and not have to adjust, but I’m not quite there yet. Many will argue that every digital image needs some post production to perfect it. What do you think? Do you shoot RAW?

Since I took this shot I have started using Adobe Lightroom to process my RAW images. The program is extremely powerful, yet economical in cost and user friendly.

If you want to learn more about why people take pictures in RAW this photography forum thread is worth reading  http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=684360

Learn About RAW Photography

Black and White Digital Photography Photo WorkshopUnderstanding RAW Photography (Expanded Guides – Techniques)Camera Raw with Photoshop For DummiesCamera RAW 101: Better Photos with Photoshop, Elements,The Digital Negative: Raw Image Processing in Lightroom,Lexar Professional 1100x 64GB XQD Card (LXQD64GCTBNA1100) Size:

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Tree Springs to Life in Photoshop

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Tree Springs to life in Photoshop

Sometimes my commute home takes twice as long as I stop and take pictures. Yesterday was no exception as the combination of the sky, clouds and the emerging spring greenery beckoned me more than once to stop the car.

The straight out of camera was just dull and flat. Not nearly what I saw visually with the naked eye. So after adjusting the white balance down from blue to more green in Gimp I then went to work in photoshop.

I first brightened the whole image. Then selected the blues in the sky and copied the results into their own sky layer. From there I adjusted the blue until it was vibrant.

As a result of brightening the foreground grass was blown out. To fix I color selected browns from the foreground and copied into a new layer. This layer I darkened. In actuality there are three different exposures in this image. Probably not technically correct, but that’s the result.

A little background on the tree, it’s been one of my favorite vistas on my drive home between Murdock and Elmwood for many years. I’ve often wanted to stop and take a picture against the ever changing Nebraska sky. Now I have an excuse. My goal is to take regular images as the seasons and weather changes, then stitch them together in a time lapse fashion to represent a yearly “life of a tree”.

Has anyone attempted something like this? If so I’d love to see the result.

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Seaport Fence

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Seaport Fence with Buoys

One of the benefits of not doing a 365 Project this year is the flexibility to use one of the thousands (yes, thousands) of pictures that didn’t make last years cut. Or, I can pull up an image from years ago, a forgotten neglected image from years gone by.

This fence on Block Island just called me over with the buoys hanging all in a row above the sunflowers. It is so New England and the overcast weather is probably comparably to what it is now, minus the sunflowers.

Photoshop processing: Levels, shadows and highlights, an artist plastic wrap effect at a low opacity and then a final sharpen unmask.

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Photoshop Friday: Sunset Silhouette

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I’m starting a new series, Photoshop Friday. In one way I miss my 365 Project and blogging on a more regular basis, and between picking just one photo per week it leaves me little room to experiment with Photoshop. So I’ll be choosing photos which I think I can improve with post production. So here is week one of Photoshop Friday.

Photoshop and Raw through Gimp

#5/52: Snow Storm in Nebraska

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Snow in Nebraska

When it snows in Nebraska, it really snows. When the wind stops blowing, the snow settles into the trees, and the sun comes out the countryside is a magnificant site. If it is a wet spring snow it sticks to everything, covering the trees, and making for more photo opportunities than I could choose from, so here are a few more from rural Nebraska.

I always am looking for a good excuse to drive around the country, test out my camera and snow is a good opportunity to learn more about white balance and how to get true whites during snow and not blue.

Right now I’m just going to post the results. All of the photos are SOOC (straight out of camera) with the exception of the top photo, the greenish tinge just kept bugging me so I adjusted the white balance in a levels layer.

Nebraska snowy creek
Nebraska snowy creek
Snowy Farm Tires
Snow covered farm equipment
Minimum maintenance road in Nebraksa
Go Down this road at your own risk